Kan. expects results soon in 'In Cold Blood' tests

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas official says the state expects to have results early next month from DNA testing done on remains from two men executed for the 1959 slayings that inspired Truman Capote's classic book, "In Cold Blood."

Officials in Florida sought the tests to see whether Perry Smith and Richard Hickock can be linked to decades-old multiple murders of four Walker family members south of Sarasota, Fla. Those killings occurred only weeks after the murders of four Clutter family members in their farmhouse outside the small southwest Kansas town of Holcomb.

Deputy Director Kyle Smith said Thursday that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation expects to have results in eight to 10 days.

Kansas executed Smith and Hickock for the Clutter murders in 1965. Their remains were exhumed in December.